Russia launches North Pole-2015 drifting Arctic station

April 19, 2015, 2:33 UTC+3The station’s opening marks the revival of Russia’s programme of drifting stations that was suspended in the summer of 2013 after the North Pole-40 Russian drifting station had been evacuated

NORTH POLE-2015 ARCTIC STATION, April 19 /TASS/. Russia has officially launched its North Pole-2015 drifting Arctic station. The opening ceremony was attended by Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the state commission for Arctic development; Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev and Minister of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoi.

The station will function for several months, scientists said. Artur Chilingarov, the Russian president’s special representative for international cooperation in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The station’s opening marks the revival of Russia’s programme of drifting stations that was suspended in the summer of 2013 after the North Pole-40 Russian drifting station had been evacuated.

The world’s first drifting station North Pole-1 was officially opened 20 kilometers away off the North Pole on June 6, 1937. The expedition headed by well-known polar explorer Ivan Papanin lasted for 9 months. The ice floe covered more than 2,000 kilometers.

Until last year, the Barneo drifting base had opened in the Arctic annually. It operated on the 89th degree of north latitude approximately 100 kilometers off the North Pole.